Failed Plans
by Royal Requiem
Summary: Oneshot - The curse mark from Orochimaru backfired. How does this affect his plans? (Image Source: Pedro Chamusca)


Kabuto stood in line with his team in an arena with balconies on the sides of the room. There were five other teams of three lined up with his on the floor, with their respective senseis in the balconies. There was also the Hokage and the proctor of the exam at the front of the room waiting for any other team to arrive. The time limit given for this portion of the exam was nearing its end, and his master's target was still not here. It was starting to make Kabuto nervous, as he knew his master did not tolerate failure well. He knew he would not be the poor soul to try to point out that this was his plan in the first place. He may be highly ranked and liked by his master, but that wouldn't save his neck from his master's deadly blade.

Glancing up at the stands, Kabuto swept his eyes over all the senseis, only briefly stopping on the jōnin sensei from Oto, the village hidden in sound. He didn't want to ruin his master's disguise by lingering too long on him, but he needed to know if there was to be any change to the plan. Gaining nothing from his master but some minor tells that he was anxious to see his target, Kabuto returned his gaze to the Hokage.

An alarm sounded, signifying the end of this exam stage. The target had not arrived, and the only information that he and his master gained was from the Oto team present in the room, who had been driven off from attacking the target when several Konoha teams aided the target's team in defence. They had not seen the target but confirmed that he was in a critical state, which was to be expected after receiving such a gift from his master.

Still, it was best to continue with the current plan, as the target was only part of the overall goal of the plan. Raising his hand, Kabuto signaled that he was unable to continue and back out of the exams. Exiting the arena, Kabuto arrived at the medical wing in the building to recover ninja from the arena. Resting in one of the beds, Kabuto acted hurt with minor injuries and chakra exhaustion to not seem suspicious of being there. The act was easy for him to pull off being trained as a medical ninja.

He knew that with the number of contestants in the arena, a preliminary tournament was to be held to thin the numbers. While waiting for the first of the Oto ninja to arrive, Kabuto acted 'recovered' and offered to assist the staff with any medical needs. It wasn't long before one Oto ninja arrived. Zaku, if he recalled the name correctly, though not really caring as it seemed the windpipes installed in the boy's arms were blown open, destroying his arms. Examining him, Kabuto determined that he would no longer be of use to his master alive, and so only did treatment to lessen the pain and prevent blood loss from nearly losing both arms. While he worked, the Oto sensei arrived to check up on his 'student'. Kabuto used the limited privacy of the wing to speak with his master.

"There has been no news of Sasuke entering the building Orochimaru-sama. How would you like to proceed?" asked Kabuto.

"The invasion will continue, be sure of that. However, it would seem that Sasuke is no longer a concern to us. I must act upon the worst case and assume he died during the exam, most likely from the seal. It is a pity, but it was a risk worth taking. Regardless, I had backup plans in case this occurred, as expected when the seal has a ninety percent chance of killing the victim. I will need you to leave the tower to exit the exam through the forest and retrieve his body for me. I want more than just his eyes to fulfill my greatest goal," spoke Orochimaru.

"As you command master. And the boy here will be unable to continue serving as a faithful ninja, I believe this makes him an ideal candidate for the Edo Tensei," informed Kabuto.

Seeing his master nod in agreement, Kabuto bowed and began exiting the tower he was currently in. He followed the directions of the Oto team, hoping to backtrack his way to the Konoha team with Sasuke on it.

Cursing his luck, he finds that the hollow tree base empty, but he found a pair of drag marks leading towards one of the gates that the contestants entered through.

Tracking the marks halfway to the gates, Kabuto spots the bright hair and clothes of the annoying blonde and loud pink haired teammates of his target. The blonde seemed to be carrying Sasuke now, which explained the disappearance of one drag mark swiftly followed by the other. Their attitude did not match when he first met them, however, making him wary of what may have happened in this forest. Putting on a friendly face, Kabuto began making his presence known to the team before walking through the brush to meet them. When the blonde turned to Kabuto his blood ran cold. For when the blonde turned it also revealed Sasuke's face to Kabuto. Hanging limply over the blonde's shoulder Sasuke's head would have looked peacefully sleeping were it not for the deep gashes through his eyes. It didn't take long for Kabuto's medical brain to figure out that his eyes were beyond repair.

Lashing out in rage, Kabuto yells, "What happened to his eyes!"

The blonde backs away and looks down while saying "After the first time that he thought he died, he made me promise to destroy his eyes if he ever did die. He didn't want his eyes to be used by other people, especially after seeing sensei's Sharingan."

Hearing that, Kabuto snapped. He lunged at the blonde with chakra scalpels flared. With the extra weight of the dead Sasuke, the blonde was unable to move away from the attack. Kabuto sent one hand towards the boy's neck, cutting his arteries and severing his trachea in one slash while the other hand went to the boy's abdomen to damage his chakra coil directly. The blonde crumpled down into a heap as Kabuto moved on to the screaming girl. Some killing intent paralysed the girl, and some well-placed kunai finished the job. Picking up Sasuke's body, Kabuto examined to find that not all was lost from the target. He had clearly died from the seal, and his eyes were gone, but if taken to one of his master's secret bases quickly enough genetic material could be recovered from the body before it decayed.

With this new plan formed Kabuto sealed Sasuke's body away into a scroll and turned to branch jump to the gates. Before he could take the first leap though, a massive chakra spike emanated from directly behind him. He could only compare this chakra to the sand demon child that was a cornerstone to his master's invasion plan.

Trying to take that first leap, Kabuto sprung into the air only to be grabbed by what appeared to be solid, visible chakra. The chakra bubbled and was a crimson colour, wrapped around his body in a shape similar to a clawed hand. The chakra burned his skin and started to seep into his own chakra system.

Pinned in the air, Kabuto could do nothing as the chakra burned his body and destroyed his chakra. His skill in medical jutsu couldn't keep up his regenerative ability with the damage caused by the chakra. He could only angle his head to see Sasuke, whose body was thrown forward by the sudden stop of Kabuto. He could see the same chakra work its way to the boy, no doubt to do the same to the body as it is to himself. He had completely failed his master now.

From behind him, a deep voice rumbled, "I should thank you for weakening the seal and the boy enough to free me, though I know it was not your intent. Nor does your goal seem to align with mine regarding the eyes of that accursed clan. I hate being controlled, and I will prevent the ways that I can be from continuing to exist or be brought back."

With those words, Kabuto's world went black as he felt an immense pressure around him. The clawed hand crushed his body to paste before retracting back to its host body. Chakra exploded forth from the blonde, devastating the surrounding land, to then form into a fox-like shape.

* * *

Within the tower of the chūnin exams, Orochimaru watched on as only one of his minions passed through to the finals. Not that it mattered much for his plan of invasion, but it left the notion that his training methods were inferior to that of Konoha, which left a sour taste in his mouth. There would be much work to do after the fall of Konoha if he wanted to replace it as one of the great villages.

A massive chakra spike brought Orochimaru out of his musings, as it gained the attention of all present in the arena. Orochimaru was familiar to this chakra signature, reminding him of when the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. The older generation present must have felt the same, and sprung into action. Curious about this unknown, Orochimaru headed to the roof to observe the inevitable fight.

On the rooftop, Orochimaru witnessed a red chakra condense into the recognisable form of the Kyuubi. The sight of Kyuubi alarmed him, as the host of the demon was nearby his prize. It would be foolish to approach the Kyuubi to try to get to the boy, and that was if anything was recoverable. Debating his next move, Orochimaru felt a chakra spike shadowed by the Kyuubi's. This spike, however, came from his location. Looking down below, Orochimaru saw the sand demon child behave erratically before encasing himself in a sand sphere. Having been warned of the transformation process, Orochimaru decided to use the two demons to weaken Konoha while he retreated.

Making his escape, Orochimaru passed the medical wing that Kabuto hid in. It appeared empty of personnel, which suited him just fine as he remembered the main house Hyūga losing her fight badly. He may have to sneak back later to try to recover the prized Sharingan, but obtaining a set of unsealed Byakugan was a nice consolation prize for now.

Summoning a snake, he had the snake swallow the girl and himself and slither out of the tower into the forest. From there it could act like the other oversized dangerous animals and make a path naturally to an exit away from the fighting demons.

Orochimaru called his elite guard to escort his escape back to Oto, to start breeding the girl to gain loyal warriors of byakugan users, to implant one of the eyes for himself and possibly one for one of his elite guard, the bowman could benefit from the range of sight. He also had to await the response from Konoha regarding the exams, whether they would continue and provide him a chance of revenge, or be cancelled and he would have to bide his time. But, being immortal meant he had all the time required to exact his revenge.


End file.
